Nature's Ways: Hanging tough

Friday

May 12, 2017 at 3:01 AM

By Mary Richmond

Extreme weather can be a serious challenge, especially for those without a warm, dry place to retreat to while the storm rages all around them. At this time of year heavy rain and strong winds can roar through our landscape causing all sorts of havoc.

Migrating birds can get caught in storms. They can get blown around or off course, into buildings or onto roadways. They can get lost or blown out to sea.

Worse than wind, however, can be the soaking rains, especially when the rains fall day after day with no respite.

Birds have some natural oils in their skin that they use to preen their feathers. This gives them a bit of waterproofing but no feather can stand hours of drenching rain without soaking through.

This means that birds must seek shelter to stay as dry and warm as possible. That would be all well and good if birds didn’t also have to eat a lot. Like all day long. Even though staying still uses less energy than hunting for food, birds metabolize food quickly and must eat often to stay alive.

I’m always amazed at the perseverance and downright pluckiness of even tiny birds. Birds are tough. They are survivors. They are scrappy, resilient and adaptable. And yet, even the toughest bird can suffer through continuous stormy weather.

Between rainstorms I was walking on a beach where a pair of piping plovers have made a nest. She was sitting on the nest, which presumably had eggs in it, and he was keeping watch from a fair distance. I saw him first and I knew from his posture that he was on guard so I let my eyes scan the area until I found her. She was barely discernible even on a broad, bare expanse of sand.

I thought of these birds through the rain and the wind of last Friday and Saturday. I wondered how they were making out.

While birds in our yards and in the woods can hide in bushes and trees these small shorebirds are totally exposed to all the weather that passes by. Leaving the eggs for even a few minutes would mean they would be soaked through, chilled and most likely ruined. And yet, a bird must eat.

Even with the birds changing places, which they do, the one seeking food had to battle intense on shore wind to find any morsel. Hopefully the agitated water and sand swirling around also meant that the tiny creatures the plovers eat were also exposed.

The rain fell harder and harder. The wind blew. The sky was dark and unforgiving. And then the sun broke through. And yes, the little pair of plovers was still there. The nest and eggs were still there. All I could do, besides smile, was tip my imaginary hat to therm. Imagine almost 48 hours of relentless cold, rain and wind with no shelter, no reprieve.

Even the poorest among us would seek shelter beneath an overhang, a bridge or abandoned building but these tiny creatures had no such recourse. They just had to sit it out and hope for the best.

Rains like we had flood animal homes on the ground as well. Fox and coyote dens can become dangerous places and the small holes and tunnels used by weasels, chipmunks and mice can become perilous as well.

As I left the beach that day the osprey nest looked empty but I stopped to watch anyway. I knew this nest was active and most likely had eggs and sure enough, an osprey head peered over the edge of the nest when it heard its mate arriving. I can’t even begin to imagine what it was like on that perch through the rain and wind but again, they survived.

I guess when someone calls you a tough old bird, it’s a real compliment.